![]() ![]() Prices for original Blue Notes often reach into the $1000 and beyond realm, even when it can easily be demonstrated that the Music Matters and Analogue Productions reissues often look and sound better! Now that's a "scene". Was, who begins with "The Scene Changes.Again!" Honestly, I can't think of a more apropos opening-and I'm not writing that to butter him up, for Blue Note has long been a "scene"-even when the label was dormant. So, what's inside the clearly deluxe clothbound box? It begins with a hand written (printed) note from Mr. Was might call "tsotchkes"), some better than others, but all serving the purpose of solidifying the brand's identity for the next generation of Blue Note enthusiasts. Subscribers to the limited edition, $200 per box series, detailed in Blue Note's press release and available on the Blue Note Review website, get a beautifully packaged hard clothbound box (even the cardboard shipping box is something buyers will want to retain) in which is packed a variety of Don Was chosen music and accessorized goodies (or as many including Mr. This Blue Note Review box set is Was's attempt to solidify the label's identity with a new, young generation of label and vinyl enthusiasts who, in a seemingly infinite world of consumable music (much of it free), welcome the concept of "curated products" in both the virtual and physical worlds. In 2012, two years after Lundvall stepped down and three years before he passed away, musician/producer Don Was was named Blue Note president. That man was label co-founder Alfred Lion! Lundvall was told by what he described as a "very nice man" he encountered in the office, "Well we don't have any staff here at all". It must have been particularly satisfying for Lundvall, who fresh out of college in 1957 tried to begin his record business career by applying for a job at Blue Note Records. Eventually Blue Note faltered and was sold more than a few times, which led to reissue exploitation and no new vision for the brand (including outright dormancy for almost a decade) until the late Bruce Lundvall successfully revitalized the label in a 26 year run that began in 1984 and ended in 2010 when his battle with Parkinson's Disease forced him to step down.īy then, helped by successful new talent signing like Norah Jones and Cassandra Wilson, and the re-signing of former Blue Note artists like Jimmy Smith and Freddie Hubbard, and it should also be said, the revived vinyl record market and the label's willingness to license titles to specialty labels like Analogue Productions and Music Matters, Blue Note was again ascendant. With the music, the sound and the cover art well-established, the label itself began attracting fans world-wide who were loyal to the brand as few labels have managed. RVG recorded for other labels, including Prestige, but the Blue Notes all had a sound as unique and identifiable as the music and the graphics. At around the same time the 12"long playing LP replaced the 78 single, the label began assembling a remarkable artist roster, created a distinctive graphic look with Reid Miles's now iconic artwork for the new, large canvas cover (often making use of Francis Wolff's equally iconic photography) and solidified a Blue Note "sound" with most LP era recordings engineered by the legendary optometrist/recording engineer Rudy Van Gelder, who began his career by turning his parents' Hackensack, NJ living room into a recording studio. Label founders Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff (with financial backing by Max Margulis) had a "trad jazz" musical vision in the late 1930s that after World War II changed to reflect the music's hard bop direction. The fans remained true even as the company changed hands, lost artistic focus, engaged in self-exploitation and occasionally tried to re-invent itself into something it was not. Who would have thought? There's long been a Blue Note "community" but it's a loose knit, worldwide group of like-minded label enthusiasts that have kept the Blue Note flame glowing. Click to change.Don Was, community organizer. ![]()
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